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InDesign is one of the most popular software that are used by graphic designers all over the world. Most of these artist love the application, because it allows you to create a lot of different shapes, lines, forms, etc. So as to create a final design. However, other designers (like me) are a little more prone towards using Illustrator because we feel it is a little bit less complicated.

Now, as far as how good these are, it really just depends on the designer, because both of these are amazing tools to create graphic art. Having said that, we will talk a little about the insides of InDesign. Although there are a lot more than just five, today we will name and explain briefly the top five tools (according to moi) that InDesign offers us.

Selection Tool: just as it name says it, this tool creates selection of an image within a frame, or the frame itself, and allows you to size and and cut it to your liking.

Pen Tool: this one is my personal favorite, and a highly popular one. The pen tool essentially gives you the freedom to do any shape you want, including straight and curved lines.

Eyedropper: when you are struggling to find that perfect shade of grey that you saw in that one picture from that add from Instagram, the eyedropper comes in handy to your assistance. With this tool, you are able to simply pick colors from any image and utilize it in your design.

Content Collector: this one is a fun one. The name is pretty self explanatory, being that with this tool you can literally copy parts of a design (a background, a pattern, a texture, etc.) and paste it anywhere you want in your design, as many times as you want.

Scissors: everyone needs a little help once in a while, specially with these type of software that can sometimes get a little tricky. This tool does pretty much what its name tells you, it allows you to cut into your designs with the flexibility of choosing what points you want to cut into.

Now that you have learned about my personal favorite tools from InDesign, you might want to go explore it yourself to see if you disagree with my list, or if I was spot on with my decisions.

In this day and age, we as humans have come to develop as a comfortable and convenient race. Ever since we have initiated the stages of the technological era, the amount of comfortability and convenience that we have added to our day to day lives have been growing in sequence with our inventions. We started as primitive creatures with a high capacity of development. Regrettably this ability has brought upon us a cursing that we will have to soon start taking serious action on. With our industrial, technological, and social evolution, have also come the troubles that we have been implementing into our beloved planet. This everlasting practice that we have made out of damaging our own home, seems to only be growing by the minute.

Convenience, like I mentioned before, fits a perfect description to the global society we have grown to form. In the United States alone, we see convenience everywhere; we even call our stores “convenience stores.” A few decades ago, when this was all starting, it painted an amazing picture to the public. Supermarkets full of plastic-wrapped food that will last you weeks, plastic containers that will hold your produce healthy for as long as you want to keep them in the fridge, sponges made out of synthetic materials that make them be so durable that you can almost pass them down to the next generation; plastic absolutely everywhere. Looking at it from an uninformed perspective, it is amazing. We love it so much because it lasts a long time, it holds anything and everything, it comes in all shapes and forms, it is light weight and easy to use, and most of all: it is highly convenient. Sadly, all the reasons that make us love it so much, are also a huge proof as to why we should start hating it. Plastic’s longevity is the biggest threat that it poses to nature. All the chemicals and materials that are mixed into it are the ones that allow it to not only last thousands of years, but also to essentially never biodegrade. Only because an item made out of plastic is no longer visible to the human eye, it does not mean that it biodegraded. Paradoxically, it actually means something really bad: that it has degraded into microplastics.

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic that were once a big marketed item used (and made) by us. For some, it might be unbelievable to think that such a small thing could do so much harm, but that is where the big problem arises. Little to none information exists on the health risks that these microplastics present to the human being. However, we do know that there are most definitely risks, as these tiny particles are natural gatherers of harmful things such as chemicals and heavy metals (Nithin Coca, May 27th of 2016). The fact that we have yet to learn what the harm is behind these tiny plastics should be a red flag for us as a global society to start taking action. Whether we like it or not, they are everywhere. It has been shown in studies that they are not only in our oceans, but also in the air we breathe in. It is a scary, urgent situation that we have brought upon ourselves, which in effect, means we should take full responsibility for it.

Lately, the news and social media have made it a more reachable topic for younger people to have access to, which has surprisingly brought positive feedback to the matter. Every day more juveniles decide to take a standpoint on the issue and verbalize their concerns, particularly since they are the ones that will have to deal with the long-term consequences. There have been school strikes, political debates, social media rants, documentaries, broadcastings, movies, series, and so on; that have popularized the idea of caring for our planet. While this is certainly a good thing, it is also not enough. Raising awareness on an important topic is the first step, but propaganda can only do so much. It is of no use to have a large part of our population vouching for a cleaner, plastic-free earth, if our leaders are the other part that does not care for the cause. This is a worldwide concern, so globally is how it should be handled. There are numbers from a couple of years ago that estimate that more than 300 million metric tons of plastic are man made every year. (Mark Tutton, April 22nd 2018). This outstanding number is not only excessively high, but it is also outdated, and continues to grow year after year. The bigger dispute today is not the mass production that already exists in all of our countries, but the fact that we, as a ‘united planet’, are not doing much to diminish it. We concentrate so much on the biggest countries and we love to point fingers, but not much action is actually taken.

Costa Rica is a great example to take into consideration. The small country of Central America is one of the most sustainable places on Earth. A few years back, they took it upon themselves to start making serious changes. Their individual efforts are now visible and highly rewarded by their beautiful and protected nature that allows them to have a richer economy thanks to tourism. This small nation uses more than 90% of renewable energy, and have proudly vowed to become the first carbon neutral country by 2020. This is real, tangible change. Costa Ricans are proud people, they love and cherish their country, and all it took from them is to realize that if they wanted their home to be clean and last them for many more years, drastic modifications needed to be implemented into their laws. Just like Costa Rica, there are many other countries that have started to incorporate sustainable practices and regulations. In the United States, there are states that have begun this process by banning styrofoam, plastic bags, straws, and so on. More countries are joining on the movement of tree planting, which will assist by cleaning the air we breath and filtering the water we drink (both of which are proven to be polluted by microplastics). The point is, there are millions of ways that we could start the process of cleaning our planet, and just like many places have started, we have to as well.

It is widely known that everything is easier said than done, and that goes well in this case. All these things that are mentioned above sound great, but are also very difficult to put into work. In order for these changes to start, there needs to be political involvement. This happens to be one of the biggest issues we have here in the United States: many of our politicians simply do not believe in global warming. This, in my opinion, is the most considerable threat we have regarding our climate crisis. Science continues to show all the proof needed in order to take this problem seriously. The thing is, most people have no power over mass producing companies, or laws and regulations. With this being said, there is one thing we can do about this: to vote. In 2016, the nonvoters essentially handed the presidency to Donald Trump. The percentage of people that did not vote was so high that it resulted on his winning. Today, we see a president that is apathetic towards climate change, and a lot of powerful people that follow along his same ideals. This lack of consolidation between the people in power, and those that want to see change, is quite afflictive on our environmental footprint. If our leaders do not believe in the problem of microplastics, the funding necessary to appraise these issues will be close to impossible to find. If the experts are not even close to having a wide knowledge of the actual whereabouts of these harming particles (Laura Parker, June 6th 2019), the lack of funding and government support is only going to add to the problem even more problems. As redundant as it sound, today we are matter-of-factly facing an array of issues, problems and crisis all in once, and we need to pick the leaders that care enough about it so that we can began the process of solution.

The United States mass producing and consumerist culture is plainly circumstantial. For decades, our country has been filled with plastic covered counters, fast food advertisements, and an all-too-comfortable way of living accomplished by big commercialist companies. Only a small percentage of our population is at fault, but we all have to pay the price. Nowadays, buying a family of five a McDonalds meal is much cheaper than going to the supermarket and buying a few vegetables and fresh chicken. Moreover, our workforce is so capitalized that most people get 15 to 30 minutes only for lunch, which often obliges them to also pick a fast food option. This is a very big predicament. We have Americans that feed themselves fake food because they either cannot afford fresh food, or they simply do not have the time to prep their meals before going to work. These are things that we also have to bear in mind when it comes to microplastics. It might seem as if it has nothing to do with it, but fast food chains are filled with plastic cups, straws, utensils and bags. In very rare cases they have separated trash cans where you can recycle some of these, and even if they do, these plastics will generally end up un-recycled, being that recycling is actually very expensive, and that more than 80% of the things we put in our recycling bins in reality never get a second chance. Notwithstanding, there are ways of beginning to take the matter into our own hands (as individuals). Lately, the trend zero waste has taken a bigger course. Many people have gradually adopted zero waste lifestyles and have been influencing others to do so as well. Living a zero waste life for some might sound too bohemian, or simply impossible. Instead, it is not. If we could do it a few decades ago, we can do it today. All it takes is small changes into our daily habits. Little things such as taking our own bags to the grocery stores, buying in local farmer markets, carrying with us reusable bottles and utensils, and/or starting a compost in our backyard, or with the community; are means to create small changes.

As a society, we are taught to believe that small is insignificant, but I say that it is quite the opposite. In fact, small steps are what lead us to greater accomplishments, and it is in the little things where we frequently find the big solutions. Microplastics are an enormous part of our global environmental crisis; these tiny fragments have a big impact on our future, and it is up to us to change that. We have to take the immediate action that is more accessible to us: participate in polls, adopt the most zero-waste lifestyle you can manage, educate the people close to you, support small businesses, be constant on the matter because it is not going anywhere. Most importantly: care. If we decide not to care for our planet, it is only us the ones that will suffer the consequences.

To lack a national bias, or a cultural bigotry, is to be a cosmopolitan; a “citizen of the world.” This term is neither complex nor is it simple, it lays in the middle of a comforting prospect of what it is like to think inside a grey area. Appiah’s exposition on cosmopolitanism describes the idea that our “global tribe” has the fundamental human duty to communicate and exchange our views and beliefs with one another, leaving aside the principles that more often clash among the diverse existing cultures. By doing so, our human race could come together as a whole and we would be able to tolerate all ideologies without having to embrace them.

The world as we know it has existed for more than 4 billion years. Earth’s complexity has given us everything we need in order to achieve all the discoveries, creations and societies that exist today. As humans, our primal instinct is to survive, and we have done so by developing within each other different civilizations and customs. What is remarkable about these developments is that each of them are unique and unprecedented. As Appiah implies, “…we neither expect nor desire that every person or every society should converge on a single mode of life.” In the interest of progress and expansion, curiosity stimulates our race and serves as a motivation to explore and extend the boundaries of human attainment and synergy. Without disparity and contrast, life would be nothing but a dull existence. Notwithstanding, humans tend to misunderstand one another, which many times can result on anarchy, oppression, and bloodshed.

This new year has come along with quite a controversial action from our leaders. The American government has now been shut down for several weeks, making it the longest government shutdown in American history. As a result, thousands of government workers are being neglected of their pay, as well as the many Americans that rely on the federal safety net. The reason behind this outrageous halt lays on a miscommunication between Congress and the President. The usage of the government’s immense budget is being argued and fought by both parties, seeing as each side wants to spend it differently. The real problem here is not where the money should go to or who should be in charge of handling it; the conflict truly is on the senseless dispute that is affecting negatively thousands of uninvolved citizens.

As Americans sit on a country where the government has decided to put their own whimsical needs and ideas before those of its people, Appiah’s theory on cosmopolitanism becomes more urgent. We appear to be living in a world where communication is everywhere, from our social media platforms, to the most common ways of human encounter; yet we still have not learned how to suitably converse with one another. As stated on his essay Cosmopolitanism. Ethics in a World of Strangers: “Conversation doesn’t have to lead to consensus about anything, especially not values; it’s enough that it helps people get used to one another.” If we took a second of our day to listen to someone other than the people we are close with, we would find that there is a lot to learn from different points of view. Many believe that to take notice of different opinions means to engage in the same thoughts. Instead, what really happens is an exchange of beliefs and mindsets that widen our minds and helps us see that there is a whole world beyond our invisible cultural walls, and that if we pay enough attention, we can learn and absorb a lot from it.

To disregard someone or something simply because it is unknown, means to feed our own ignorance. If we —as residents of this world— chose to cease the oblivion, we might be able to find that silver lining within our discrepancies and to coexist appease in our world.

Before getting into the whopping world of Multimedia, I had absolutely no idea that there were different qualifications when it came to fonts. As any regular citizen that is not quite involved in the tech field, it never even crossed my mind to think that there might be fonts outside of the library we can find in, lets say, Microsoft Word. Nowadays, I have come to the realization that, although I have learned a great deal about this important element of design, there is still a lot of information out there about fonts and typefaces I have yet to discover. Nonetheless, today we will talk about the essential fonts that you should know as a Multimedia apprentice in order to make it out alive in this industry. Let’s start!

First things first… As far as types, there are three that are important to know and understand.

Postscript Fonts:

Before these fonts were created, it was pretty complicated and inconvenient to design anything that needed to have scaled lettering in it. This was because back then, fonts were formats designed for one specific size and style. When they were manipulated, their quality would decrease terribly. Luckily, Adobe stepped in to make our lives easier in the 80’s, when they came up with what we know today as Postscript Fonts. The biggest improvement from the old fonts to this typeface was that Adobe developed this new format to be vector graphics, thus allowing users to exploit the letters to their liking without worrying about loss of quality. In addition, these fonts were rendered for both screen and print jobs.

Truetype Fonts:

Subsequent to Adobe’s genius creation, Apple decided to come out with Postscript’s prodigy child: Truetype Fonts. These consist of different styles of typefaces that are used by monitors to display text. Just as Postscript, they are scalable to all sizes without loosing value. Essentially, there is not a lot of difference between the two formats other than their creators, and perhaps the final usage you give to the fonts. If you are looking for fonts that are easy to read and print, stick with Truetype. If you are going for a more professional look for a printing job, you will want to use Postscript.

Opentype Fonts:

If you ask me, this font is the coolest one of them all due to its versatility. Created cooperatively by both Adobe and Microsoft, it is a format that supports unicode. Unicode is an awesome composition that allows for full editing range on one single typeface. In other words, Opentype can contain more than 60,000 glyphs for an exclusive font, which enables these typefaces to be used in a variety of different languages. As a result, this font are very popular globally.

Now that we know the essentials of fonts, it is also important to understand the “politics” behind them. Unfortunately, in the United States, typefaces are not fully covered under the Copyright Law. However, many graphic designers convert their fonts into vector graphics so as to be able to manipulate them to their liking, and create an “original” work that will keep them out of lawful issues. This being said, fonts can be free and/or licensed as well for commercial usage. When downloading a font, whether it is royalty free or bought out, the vast majority come with licenses that thoroughly explain how they may or may not be used, and all the legal specifications linked to the specific font.

Considering everything, it is critical for a Multimedia Designer to understand the rules and consequences that come with each font that is being used. Although not a lot of people are aware of the laws that protect these formats, there is always lawful risks involving them, being that they too are individual forms of art created by someone that reserves the right to claim for their work.